Regional differences in zygapophysial joint cavities: a histological study of human fetuses.

CONCLUSIONS: At any regions, a deep recess appeared before an area expansion of the ZJ cartilage. A drastic change in direction and size of the prenatal recess seemed to occur depending on a possible minute dislocation of the ZJ. In particularly, a deep posteromedial recess of the cervical ZJ, that extended far beyond the articular cartilage, might be necessary to maintain high flexibility suitable for the strong flexion posture in utero.
PMID: 33034079 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Anatomical Record - October 9, 2020 Category: Anatomy Authors: Kitamura K, Kim JH, Cho KH, Murakam G, Rodríguez-Vázquez JF, Yamamoto H Tags: Anat Rec (Hoboken) Source Type: research